Thanksgiving: Thankfulness

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back!

This morning, if you will, start turning in your Bibles to .

This morning we are going to be looking at a familiar account in the Bible of Jesus healing some lepers along the way to Jerusalem.

And this message this morning is going to be speaking to our attitudes on things.

How we can develop a heart of gratitude toward God, which by the way will also lead us into a spirit of generosity.

And it is fitting that we are going in this direction with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays coming up.

Both are really all about giving.

Now, I know we’ve had a tendency to turn Christmas into a holiday more about “getting” instead of “giving” but the reality is, Christmas is all about honoring the One who came and gave everything for us.

Our celebration of Christmas is all about giving thanks and recognizing the spirit of Jesus is all we do.

Jesus taught us to love our neighbors, and Christmas is a time of the year when we can and should demonstrate that love.

And the same thing holds true for Thanksgiving as well.

Thanksgiving is a time set aside, not for eating too much and going into a food coma on the couch.

The whole premise behind Thanksgiving is our Thankfulness to the Native Americans for helping the first Pilgrims here stay alive.

They not only fed the Pilgrims, but also showed them how to stay alive in this new world.

And also, today as we stop and pause for a moment, thinking about Veterans Day, we have a lot to be thankful for.

The men and women in our military today, and the 200 + years this has been a nation.

What they have sacrificed for us, so that we can be free to come and worship in places like this.

Free to live our lives anyway we see fit.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

The problem though is many times we forget to pause and give thanks to the One who makes all of this possible.

We fail to stop and thank God for all God has done.

And I don’t mean the simple, “Thank you Lord,” we utter more out of habit in our prayers, but truly stopping and thanking God.

Thankfulness, in itself is not an occasional act, but a lifestyle of intentional and spontaneous appeciation.

And if we are not careful, this thankfulness we lead us into the presence of God.

It will empower us to be grateful in all circumstances.

And it causes us to be overflowing with our generosity.

However, this isn’t something that just happens by accident.

We have to be intentional about it.

We have to train ourselves to be still and hear God speak.

We have to train ourselves to recognize God at work through us and around us.

Which is the lesson that Jesus is going to teach us through his encounter with 10 Lepers as he traveled along the way to Jerusalem.

If you have found in your Bibles, I’d invite you to stand we me as we read.

Luke writes . . .

Scripture Focus

Luke 17:11–19 NIV - Anglicised

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Jesus Have Pity On Us (vs 11-13)

Now, if you remember our studies in the Gospel of Matthew, you will recall that this event was toward the latter part of Jesus ministry.

It is actually right before Jesus starts teaching the disciples about the end times that is recorded in .

Which is significant because if you think back Jesus was trying to teach the disciples at that time to be ready.

He knew is time with them was drawing to a close and that needed to be ready for whatever they faced.

And one of the key things about being ready is being able to recognize God.

And this who thing about thankfulness is significant because you can’t be thankful if you can’t recognize God.

And the second part is, even if you do recognize God you have to be able to pause and truly give God thanks.

Which is is where we oftentimes get ourselves into trouble.

We recognize God but we get very complacent about our thanking God and praising God.

We have grown so accustomed to God blessing us, we take it and Him for granted many times.

If we were to be honest, if we really had an attitude of thankfulness toward God, we would rarely preach a sermon.

Because every service would be a testimony service.

And you wouldn’t have to worry about people being bored or falling asleep in the service because the praises to God would fill this place so full we couldn’t contain it.

But, we are a generation of the Church who has taken God for granted.

And our overall attitude shows for it.

Which is honestly no different than what Jesus encounters here.

Again Luke starts this passage out . . .

Luke 17:11–13 NIV - Anglicised

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Luke 17:11

So, we find Jesus and the disciples making one of their many trips to Jerusalem.

And given the timeframe here it was actually the last trip to Jerusalem.

Jesus is, in fact on his way to his death.

And along the way, they are travelling between Samaria, the worst place in the world to a Jew, and Galilee.

And they are entering this village, probably to rest a bit and grab a McRib at the closest McDonalds, but they were stopped at the entrance of the village by 10 lepers.

Which makes perfect sense because leprosy was viewed by a curse of God and those with leprosy were condemned to live on the outside of town.

There were different stages of leprosy, some were just mild skin conditions that would clear up, but others would result in limbs rotting off and eventually death.

It was a very scary disease of the time and also contagious.

In fact, if someone who had leprosy claimed to be healed from it, they had a whole ritual they had to go through before they would be let back into town.

Now, some other things that went along with this is, the leper could not approach a person, but had to speak to them from a distance and had to announce they had the disease to those they encountered.

And given all of this, we can imagine it would be difficult to find a job and make money to live on.

So, most of them ended up being beggars and relied on the generosity of other people to live.

And sadly, the people in Jesus’ day were like the people in our world today.

For the most part, they had no love or compassion for others, they were just about “getting theirs” and didn’t care about helping the lepers and the less fortunate.

And these people were treated many times like the poor and homeless are today.

Rejected and ridiculed.

Mocked and made fun of.

Abused and rejected by all.

However, there was something different about these guys.

They apparently recognized Jesus as more than just a teacher.

We know this because they cry out to him, Jesus, Master, have pity on us!

Now, it’s not know if they had seen Jesus perform miracles, if they had just heard about him, or how they knew.

But they knew that Jesus was sent my God and if there was anyone that could help them, that could heal them, than it was Jesus.

The One Grateful One (vs 14)

So, they cry out to Him, Jesus, Master, have pity on us!

And he responds to them . . . .

Luke 17:14 NIV - Anglicised

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

Luke

And, this in itself is amazing.

Jesus never approached them, never laid a finger on them.

He just spoke to them.

They called out in faith to Him and he simply responded go show yourselves to the priests.

And the lesson we can take from that is that God doesn’t need a bunch of pomp and circumstance to heal us.

God doesn’t need a big show or big production put on to work in our lives.

In fact, oftentimes, it is is the stillness and the most quiet times that God moves.

It is in the times when we least expect it and expect Him, when he moves on us and through us.

Sometimes, God’s work is so subtle and quiet that we don’t even recognize it.

Which is precisely why we need to pause and really think about what God has done for us.

When we are giving thanks to God, instead of just saying it out of habit, we need to pause and think about what it is we are thanking Him for.

Let it settle deep down in our heart and in our soul.

Let it really sink in, so that we realize who God is and what God has done and continues to do for us.

At this point, these guys take Jesus at his word.

He told them to go show themselves to the priests....and as they went, they were cleansed.

Which is another very important point here.

Jesus didn’t just speak and boom they were healed.

The healing took place as they walked toward the priest to present themselves for inspection.

They had to start their journey with a step of faith.

And the same thing holds true for us.

Our journey with God starts with, and only with, a step of faith.

We have to trust Him and we demonstrate that trust with that first step of faith.

By coming to his altar seeking forgiveness for our sin, trusting that he will forgive.

And when he does, that is the ultimate blessing that we should constantly be thanking God for.

The blessing and gift of salvation and eternal life.

We should never take that for granted.

What Happened to the Other Nine (vs 15-19)

Because when we do, is where the rest of the story applies to us.

Because here we now have these 10 lepers who have been healed by Jesus and they have gone to present themselves to the priests . . .

Luke 17:15–16 NIV - Anglicised

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:

So, one of these guys is so overwhelmed and overjoyed by what God has done for Him, he can’t contain himself.

He came back praising God in a loud voice!

Luke 17:16 NIV - Anglicised

16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

And the kicker here is that last little add on to verse 16…and he was a Samaritan.

And the reason that is important and significant is because remember the Samaritans were considered “dirty” and “unworthy” to the Jews.

They were even compared to dogs by the Jews.

They had been told that God did not love them and that God rejected them.

And now, here is one that God has shown so much love and compassion on, he was overwhelmed and couldn’t contain it.

He had to thank God and thank Jesus for what He had done.

And Jesus now uses this to teach, not this man, but his disciples, anyone else who was listening, and us was well a very valuable lesson . . .

Luke 17:17–18 NIV - Anglicised

17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Luke 17:17

You see, the other nine took it for granted.

They we probably happy and relieved they were healed, but made no special effort to praise God.

They just went on with their everyday life.

No gratitude, no thankfulness.

Almost as if they expected God to do it because they “deserved it.”

And Jesus knows that God blesses His disciples and His people.

But Jesus didn’t want them to come to take it for granted.

To forget about how special, actually having a relationship with God is.

So, in the end he tells the man . . .

Luke 17:19 NIV - Anglicised

19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Altar Call

And I wonder this morning what Jesus is saying to us.

Maybe we are like the 10 lepers, we need God to touch us and heal us in some way.

Maybe it’s physical.

Maybe it’s emotional.

Maybe it’s spiritual.

Maybe we need to come to know Jesus as Savior and receive that first blessing.

Maybe we feel like the Samaritan.

We think that God doesn’t love us and that we are “unworthy” of God’s love.

Maybe we are here and we just need to spend some time thanking God for blessing us and being with us.

For always being there in our time of need.

There are many things we could come and pray about, but the real question is, will we?

Will we take advantage of this opportunity?

The altar is here, will you come?